Chapter 124
Chapter 124. The Black Flame Dragon Who Gives Opportunities (4)
Rumors about the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation shook not only the Academy, but the entire Murim Alliance.
“They say there is a solution?”
“There was always a solution. The problem was that you had to memorize as many as two million formation routes.”
“Surely he is not planning to teach all two million and end it there, is he?”
“From what I hear, Jin So-un said he would teach a method to get out without memorizing all the routes.”
Furthermore, the reason the rumor grew even larger was because there was a limit on how long the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation would operate and how many people could enter the formation.
The office of the Academy Representative Delegation, which had always been completely empty except for the people who were with me, began to receive all sorts of visitors, from people questioning the numerical limit to those expressing dissatisfaction.
“Why are you spending so much money and operating it for only ten days?”
“Because the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation is too dangerous. If anything goes wrong, a death ground may form inside the Academy.”
“Then why are only two hundred people allowed to enter?”
“Because the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation is too dangerous, and this is to prepare for the possibility of casualties among the Academy students if anything goes wrong.”
“All of these decisions seem like the Academy Representative’s arbitrary choices!”
“Because the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation is too dangerous, please understand that I cannot accept every opinion.”
No matter what opinion or question came, I faithfully wielded the heirloom blade of “too dangerous,” and even those who had been chattering like sparrows ended up closing their mouths on their own.
Then, people who spread conspiracy theories began to appear.
“Are you not deliberately making a dangerous formation to kill the Academy students?”
“The numerical limit of two hundred people was established to prevent such a dangerous situation.”
“Could it be that you are only teaching those two hundred people as a trick to solidify your own faction?”
“Do I even have a faction in the first place? Also, that seems to contradict the question you just asked.”
As befitted spoiled little bastards raised gently, they could not bear the fact that the world did not revolve around them, and all sorts of stories flowed out.
To teach them the harshness of the world, I diligently cast “So what do you want me to do about it?” and thoroughly silenced the controversy.
“What will you do if no one comes because of that?”
“What do you mean?”
“The atmosphere already views the Academy Representative negatively, so I wondered whether you should not coax and appease them.”
At Seong Mo-ran’s question, I stared straight at her.
“Wh-Why? If you suddenly stare at me like that…….”
“Lady Seong.”
“Y-Yes!”
“If you knew the location of a Divine Weapon or Treasure Weapon that could only be used once, would you go looking for it?”
“Pardon? Why so suddenly…… Hm, even if I could only use it once, if it could save my life, I would have to go looking for it.”
“But the place where that item is located is in the middle of the Black Path murim, so your family forbids you from going. Would you still go?”
“I would still have to go. You said it was a Divine Weapon or Treasure Weapon. Even if it could only be used once, if it was something like that, I would have to go.”
“Correct. You would go. For yourself and for your family. This is the same. No matter how unreasonable and uncomfortable it feels, if they can learn the solution to the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation, are murim people not bound to go?”
“Ah…….”
At my words, not only Seong Mo-ran, but also Namgung Seon-hwa and Murong Jae-hwa, who had been listening with us, stared in surprise with their mouths hanging open.
“In any case, that petty cleverness of yours…….”
Beside me, Eun-ho, who had one eye swollen black and blue while holding up his hands, muttered quietly.
“What did you say?”
“Ah, nothing! As expected of Eldest Senior Brother! You are the best! The best!”
“Keep your hands raised properly.”
“Yes, sir!”
Namgung Seon-hwa, who had been staring in surprise, suddenly seemed to think of something and spoke.
“If that is the case, why did you place a limit on the number of people? Since you are doing it anyway, would it not be more advantageous for you, Young Master Jin, to make it around three hundred and have them participate in the academic schedule?”
“I must hold five more academic schedules over the next three months. Even if I fill the number of people right now, it will become meaningless.”
“Ah…… Once you get past one hurdle, another hurdle comes.”
“It is still fine. That is why I placed a limit on the number of people.”
“Pardon?”
“What kind of bullshit is that!”
Jang Seok-do of the Zhongnan Sect shouted.
At his sudden outburst, Geum-pyo calmly wiped the spit that had splattered onto his face and spoke.
“Did I not tell you? If you wish to learn the solution to the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation, you must attend five academic schedules hosted by the Academy Representative in the future.”
“There was no such condition!”
“Is it not standard to show the terms when the application form is being filled out?”
“You bastards, I have been letting this slide, but……!”
“Dong-ryong.”
At Geum-pyo’s words, Dong-ryong, who had been clutching his sword tightly beside him, stepped forward.
Jang Seok-do flinched and took two steps back.
He also knew very well about the rumors surrounding the Black-Blood Three Dragons of Class None.
‘They said if those three gather together, they can fight an entire platoon?’
The Nine Sects and One Gang, the Five Great Clans, and the Twelve Peak Citadels all showed displeased reactions toward the Taeul Sect’s actions.
Just as he himself had underestimated Jin So-un of the Taeul Sect and rushed in, the others in Class None had also rushed at these three brothers, only to suffer the unfortunate incident of having their arms broken.
Even then, those who still had not resolved all their anger had tried to call aside Dong-ryong, who looked the youngest, in order to teach him a lesson separately.
‘They said the hands of that tiny little fellow are that rough.’
However, Jang Seok-do also knew the story that the three people who had rushed at him had all had their arms and legs broken and suffered injuries that would make them unable to move for the next half year.
“If you are not going to apply, please move aside quickly. The line behind you is long.”
When Jang Seok-do turned around, there was a long line of people who, like him, had secretly come to fill out the application form.
Looking over their faces, every one of them was someone who did not have much power within his own sphere of influence.
As a disciple of Zhongnan, standing together with them was truly unpleasant beyond measure. However, as soon as news of the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation spread, he had received orders from the Main Mountain to learn the solution, so he had endured the disdainful gazes of others and come all the way here.
“Damn it…… Give it here. Where do I sign?”
No matter how difficult daily life inside the Academy became, if he thought about his future in the Murim Alliance and his eventual return to the Main Mountain, obeying the Main Mountain’s order was the right thing to do.
“Here, here, here, and here. Please affix your seal.”
“There are a lot.”
“For your reference, this is a document notarized by Mantongbu, so if you break the agreement, you must pay one hundred gold taels as a penalty.”
“What?”
“This is an opportunity offered only to the limited number of two hundred people. Mantongbu does not want losses to occur because of someone who will not even attend.”
“…….”
“Of course, if you attend properly, you will not have to pay one hundred gold taels.”
“…….”
No matter how unfair it was, he could not disobey the order from his Main Mountain.
“Yes, you have made a good choice. Now, next.”
Murim Academy’s Grand Riding Ground.
At this place where a special Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation was being installed, I met a welcome face.
“I was already looking for you as soon as I arrived at Murim Academy, Great Hero Yu. Why did you not attend the Murim Regular Exam?”
At my words, Yu Ji-ryang, who had grown thinner than the last time I had seen him, chuckled.
“Murim Academy is also an excellent opportunity, but I said I would not attend because there was a greater opportunity at the Taeul Sect right now.”
When I conveyed my plan to the Maoshan Sect through Mantongbu, Yu Ji-ryang, who had been installing the Mystic Gate Formation at the Wang Estate in Hefei, flew over like an arrow.
“Moreover, is this not a chance to install a pure Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation? Naturally, I had to come.”
He had grown thin after losing weight compared to before, but the profound light in his eyes seemed fuller than ever.
“Did you gain some realization?”
“I would like to say that I advanced one step through the book you left me, Great Hero Jin, and through my research with Jegal Cheon-gi.”
Yu Ji-ryang was naturally flexible and modest. Seeing such a person say he had advanced one step made it clear that his realization over this time had by no means been shallow.
“As expected, you are remarkable. Congratulations.”
At my words, Yu Ji-ryang, who instead lowered his head, stared intently into my eyes.
“I thought you were the remarkable one instead, Great Hero Jin.”
“Me?”
Yu Ji-ryang turned his head toward the Grand Riding Ground.
At the Grand Riding Ground, five hundred carpenters were fully occupied building a total of three hundred pillars and temporary structures.
“I heard rumors about the situation you are in, Great Hero Jin. But even if I had been in that situation, I would not have released something like the solution to the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation.”
“You could see it that way.”
“May I ask why you made such a choice?”
I could have drawn the Academy students in through other methods as well.
Even so, if I had to name the reasons I chose this method, there were two.
One was the Demonic Cult.
Because of the Demonic Cult, which already knew the formation dissolution methods for most of the Mystic Gate Formations in the murim, I decided to make the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation public.
And the second was—
“Is it not tragic?”
“Pardon?”
“The inside of the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation is empty. Demonic Beasts do not leap out, and disasters do not occur. Both the people trapped there and the people outside who can only watch and hope that they escape safely have nothing but a painful wait with no promise of an end.”
“…….”
Suddenly, I thought of the Grand Patriarch, who must have waited for death inside this formation filled with anguish.
“Regardless of Black or White, there are sometimes beings that appear before us and must be resisted in our most fundamental form as humans, are there not? To me, the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation is such a thing. Seeing that a Soul-Destroying Formation that supposedly disappeared three hundred years ago has appeared again, this disaster will one day appear before people again as well. If that is the case, I thought that if the solution is something human effort can handle, it is right to release it.”
“Huh…….”
Yu Ji-ryang looked at me for a long while with rabbit-like eyes.
“As expected, Great Hero Jin, you are someone who completely escapes my field of vision.”
“You overpraise me.”
At the same time, I smiled and spoke.
“And knowing the solution does not necessarily mean one can always solve it, does it?”
The Soul-Destroying Formation would become a regular event while I was the representative.
Those who tasted the Soul-Destroying Formation once would fear the Soul-Destroying Formation while also seeking a way to overcome it, and that longing would lead to regular attendance at my events.
If this was not a bait-product strategy, then what was it?
“…….”
At my words, Yu Ji-ryang, who had been staring blankly, also showed a mischievous smile at the corners of his mouth.
Seeing that smile, I asked with certainty.
“You also know something, Great Hero Yu, do you not?”
He nodded slightly.
“Could you perhaps memorize five hundred twenty-four thousand eight hundred formation routes?”
“Huh.”
When I exclaimed in admiration, he continued.
“It will likely be of no use against you, Great Hero Jin, but even if the person who originally created the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation returned alive, he would not be able to get out from within the formation I made.”
So this was what they called a smile that only those in the know could make.
The two of us exchanged such wicked smiles.
“In the end, the slots did not fill up.”
“Is this not only the first day?”
The Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation had been fully completed, and bizarre pillars and buildings whose purpose was impossible to guess had been erected at the center of the Grand Riding Ground.
Not only the participants, but even the Academy students and instructors who had gathered just to watch were craning their heads and looking this way.
“Do you think they will keep coming in the future too?”
At Namgung Seon-hwa’s words, I nodded.
“Everyone here is someone who must stake his life on survival for the rest of his life. A free fortuitous encounter is being offered right in front of them, and there will be no fool who wants to miss it.”
For those who had lived their entire lives among martial artists, there was an instinct they could not resist.
I did not know for certain, but they were surely engaged in a fierce battle of reading the mood, wondering when they should rush out and fill out the application form.
“Shall we begin?”
At Yu Ji-ryang’s question, I answered.
“Yes, please.”
Standing on the platform, Yu Ji-ryang raised a blue flag, lowered it, and then raised a red flag.
“Activate the formation!”
A total of fifty spell practitioners from the Maoshan Sect each took charge of one pillar and began activating the formation.
At the same time, when fifty currents of force moved, the sensitive horses began running wildly inside the stables, and people’s gazes began to focus even more on the center of the Grand Riding Ground.
“Ooh!”
“Is th-that the formation?”
White cloud-mist began leaking out from the temporary structures built at the center of the Grand Riding Ground.
The white cloud-mist moved slowly, spreading from the center to the outskirts, then stopped firmly at something at the outermost edge where the spell practitioners were positioned and began piling up layer by layer.
It looked as if a giant cloud that should have been high in the heavens was forming on the ground.
The cloud-mist that had begun slowly piling up moved between the strangely shaped pillars and embraced the entire Grand Riding Ground. In the end, all of the pillars and temporary structures disappeared, and nothing could be seen.
“I will inspect it.”
At Yu Ji-ryang’s words as he approached the Soul-Destroying Formation, I asked,
“Shall I enter?”
Then Yu Ji-ryang smiled and said,
“I can enter this much now as well.”
While creating the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation, Yu Ji-ryang and I had prepared one safety mechanism. It was that if a person entered from a place other than the Life-and-Death Gate, he would naturally be thrown outside the Soul-Destroying Formation.
At the Taeul Sect in Hefei, Yu Ji-ryang must have studied tremendously during this time, because he implemented what I conceived without difficulty.
“Gulp.”
When Yu Ji-ryang stood before the Soul-Destroying Formation, not even the sound of an ant crawling could be heard in the hall.
Step.
As soon as Yu Ji-ryang took one step, his figure vanished into the cloud-mist.
“…….”
And a moment later.
Step, step.
Yu Ji-ryang, his eyes closed, walked out of the Soul-Destroying Formation perfectly unharmed.
“Since entering, I only closed my eyes and walked straight ahead.”
It meant even the safety mechanism had been installed perfectly.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
I turned my head and spoke to the first group that would enter the Soul-Destroying Formation.
“Are you ready?”
After seeing the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation operate, fifty additional people declared their intent to participate in just one day.
And the news that many of these participants were members of the Nine Sects and One Gang was rather irritating to the Righteous Path Association.
To begin with, the Righteous Path Association had ordered its own people not to participate in Jin So-un’s event.
“There are still people internally who are wavering. We must be even more vigilant.”
“Instead of doing that, let us speak to the Academy and tell them to provide the solution to everyone.”
“We already spoke to them, but it was not accepted.”
However, recently, more and more people had begun moving according to orders from their Main Mountains, and this soon manifested as a loosening of internal unity.
Moreover, this was not anything else but an unmissable opportunity like the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation, so they could not simply tell people not to move.
“If this is how it will be, let us share the solution ourselves.”
“What? Are you saying we should drag Jin So-un here and torture him?”
“Would that be possible? I am saying we should send people ourselves, have them learn the solution, and then share it internally.”
“…….”
“In any case, everyone must have received contact from their Main Mountains. Their sects will not want to miss such an opportunity either.”
“Then let us do this. Speak to the Elder Hall and have them tighten the unity of our people further. Also, tell them that we will select people, have them learn the solution, and then share it again ourselves.”
“Understood.”
“This secret must never leak out. According to the contract, if this is shared, one hundred gold taels must be paid as a penalty.”
No matter how much someone played petty tricks, there was always an answer.
The ones who led the forces mocked Jin So-un’s petty cleverness and ended the meeting like that.